Thank you for your insight. This New Yorker, takes notes. What is the Jewel In The Crown for Michigan? What is the most exclusive place to live? From your description, Detroit sounds like the wild, wild west and the safest vehicle of transport would be an armored tank!!!!!/Just Asking - seoul62........
Brighton is a really nice area. Safe, clean, mostly Republican and it sits at the crossroads of I-96 and US-23.
Ann Arbor just to the south, Flint to the north, Detroit to the east and Lansing to the west. Decent people and surrounded by things to do, but not so close that you get the problems that come with it, or the prices.